Osaka

Wednesday, 3rd April.

We took a local train from Kyoto, dropped our bags at the house: modern, detached, on three floors, well equipped, as usual. Mingo and Yuki arrived from Hamamatsu. Went to the Kids Plaza, an immense entertainment centre on 5 floors.

Amara writes: ” The kids plaza was very fun because they had a pretend city that you could deliver post, recycle post or go and buy things from the fruit and veg store. There was a castle that you could play in and you could play musical instruments in some rooms. On the ground floor there was a giant marble run.👍 There was an amazing game were you had to make the ball get to the adjustable arrow by jumping . I made the ball jump the highest.”

Supper of  Kobe/Wagyu beef, strips that you grill yourself, sitting on our knees and watching baseball on the TV:

Thursday, 4th April.

Mingo and Yuki came for breakfast. Trip to the imposing Osaka Castle for the morning:

 

Lunch at a typical Osaka okonomyaki restaurant, with the dish cooked on the table hot plate:

Strolled the hyper-active and vast covered Dotonbori market of shops and eating places then stopped for takoyaki (octopus balls) before hitting the nearest arcade. Taiko No Tatsujin was a challenge, partly because of the standard high background noise but also because it was a Japanese language version, so that Catherine had to translate the menus and song titles. Still, I managed to knock out a decent William Tell overture and Amara cleared a couple of numbers, too.

After a much-needed coffee and cake stop we went back to the house to chill, then out to a local restaurant for yakatori: sticks/skewers of meat, fish, veg, before seeing Mingo and Yuki off at the station.